17/09/2025
The Curtain Call That Isn’t
Speaker Martin Romualdez’s resignation is being paraded as an act of accountability. Alongside the quiet scapegoating of Rep. Zaldy Co, it is meant to assure the public that the system is capable of policing itself. But the truth is less comforting. What we are seeing is not accountability,it is choreography.
The scandals now under scrutiny,ghost projects, substandard infrastructure, and kickbacks built into the 2022, 2023, and 2024 budgets are not isolated missteps. They are the product of a political machinery that has thrived on impunity. Romualdez, the President’s cousin, presided over a House that moved in lockstep with Malacañang. Zaldy Co, another power player, became emblematic of the flood of questionable allocations. And President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.? He has so far stood by, permitting his allies to step down quietly, as if resignation alone could cleanse the rot.
This is not new. We have seen this pattern before: when power is concentrated in the hands of a few, the system bends not toward accountability but toward survival. During Martial Law, the Marcos family turned the state into a family enterprise, while cronies enriched themselves under the guise of “development.” Today, decades later, we are again told to accept that carefully managed exits and shifting blame are enough to protect the nation’s institutions.
But are they? Or are we watching history repeat itself, another chapter where Marcos and Romualdez, bound by blood and power, control the stage, decide the script, and leave the Filipino people to pay the price?
